Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

With the la st of th e 12 rides for 1993 com plete, Ride for Kid s founders Mike and Dianne Traynor have turned over a new one-year record fu nd to tal of $526,000 to brain tumor resear ch ins titutions and to th e n ew C entra l Br a in Tu mor Registry of th e United Sta tes . This brings the total raised by mo torcyclis ts to more than $2 million since the Ride for Kids program started in 1984. Since H onda and other sponsors p a y na tio n al event cos ts , all of the money raised at these events go es d irectly to rese arch to help find the ca use and cure of pediatric brain tumors, th e leading cause of d eath by disease for children. The tentative 1994 Ride for Kids schedule begins with back-to-ha ck dua l spo rt and road rides in so uthern California on Ma rch 20 and March 27. By C ity Coun cil vo te o n T uesday, N o v emb er 16, Co llene Thompson Ca m b ell, chai rman of the board of the Mickey Thom p s on En ter tain men t Group, becam e the first wom an mayor of San Ju an Capistr ano, Californ ia. Ca m bell is th e s is ter of racing legend and promoter Mickey Thompson, who was murd er ed in 1988. Cambell w ill take office on December 7. "I've always been ex tremely prou d to li ve here," Ca m bell sai d. "From th e very b eginning, I have wanted to ge t involved with the com munity to help mai ntain its her itage and integrity. When we moved to San Jua n Cap istran o from El Monte 14 ye ars ago, I tol d Mick ey th is w as the greatest city in the na tion. He told me very em phatically then tha t someday I would be the first woma n mayor here. I d idn 't give it mu ch thought at the time, b u t a ft er Mickey an d h is w ife.Trudy were murdered in 1988, and I was later elected to the City Council, I could feel his encouragem ent all over again." GFi Racin g will hold two open practice ses sions a t Perris Raceway on Friday, Nove mber 26, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p .m . and on Saturday, November 27, fro m 10:00 a.m . to 2:00 p.m. GFI will charg e $15 per motorcycle with no sp ectato r fee. For more information contact GFi at 909/371-3434. For mer Na tiona l and Su pe rcross Ch am pion Rick Johnson will serv e as the m a s ter of cerem on ie s a t th e Decemb er 5 runnin g of the Racin g Enterp rises Christmas Grand Pri x, held at C a rl sb ad Ra cewa y in C arl sb ad, California . "RJ will lead a p arade lap, and who knows, maybe we'll ge t to see h im ra ce a class if we're lu cky," sa id Ra ci ng En te rprises' My ra Thomas on. For more information call 619/484-1441. World Ind ivid ual Speed way Champion Sam Erm olenko returned to southern Ca lifornia on November 18 to further rest the inju ries he suffered in England in Octob er and to a tte nd the AMA Aw ard s .Ba n q ue t. Pr o fe s s ional Ermole n ko s ai d th at h is reco very is coming alon g as well as can be exp ecte d . "I th ink I' ll b e fi t by th e e n d of January, but wh eth er my bones will be 100% is ano the r sto ry," Ermolenko said. " I'm two weeks away from putti ng w eig ht on my leg. I've just got to lay down an d be cool, an d if the doctors here say eve rythi ng's going okay then mayb e I'll start ridin g my bicycle. Th e warm w eather here w ill h elp , too. It 's f reezi ng in Engla nd right n o w ." Erm olenko pl ans to return to England on December 12. Ermolenko said that he is d isappointed that there will be no Grand Prix series to de termine the World I ndivid u al Speedway Cham p io n sh i p in 1994. "They (the promoters) never landed a TV deal, so they couldn't pull the sponsorship to pay for the prize money that was supposed to be put up," Ermolenko sai d . "It has kind of p u lled the carpet out from underneath us. " The BLM has announced dates and locations for. public meetings to d iscuss the recently released Dra ft Management Plan for the Clear Creek OH V area in cen tral California, site of the Quicksilver National End uro. The BLM's alternative in the draft would close approximately 70 percent of the area currently open to us e by motorcyclists and would eliminate m ost o f th e trail s u s e d in t he enduro. Meet in gs w ill be h e ld o n Decem be r 7 at the Sa n Benito High School cafe teria at 1220 Monterey Street in Hollister, December 9, at the Sierra Nationa l Fore s t Service office at 1600 Tollhou se in Clov is, and Decem ber 14 at the So u thside Commu n it y Cente r a t 5585 Cottle Road in San Jose. All meet ings are from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p. m. For more information call 408/637-8183. Th e AMA' s District 37 Du al Sport Committee will host the 10th an n u a l L.A. to Barstow to Vegas Du al Sp ort Ride on November 26-27. This will be a benefit ride to sup port general ope ration of the offices, and legal defense effor ts to keep. riding areas open. Day one will s ta r t a t the Honda Rid e r Educa ti on Center in Colt on, Ca lifornia and will tra vel 190 miles to Barstow . Day tw o w ill go from Barsto w to Las Vegas over a course of approximately 230 miles. All motorcycles must be street legal and be equ ip ped w it h a q uiet mu ffl e r and USFS-approved spark arrestor . For more info rmation, call 81 8 /24 9-2 141 or 310/826-7656. Kei th Collins dropped us a note to let us know that a protest rally will be held at Alvord Road , the traditional start of the Barstow to Vegas , on Saturda y, November 27. Collins was arrested there last year and is still awaiting his day in court, but says this year's rally ha s been approved by the BLM and is completely legal. Nearly 350 exemptions to the BLM closure order were granted (seven tim es more than have been issued in .the past), but the protest route was limited to just three miles. After the rally, w hich wil l include gu est speake rs and a collec tion of Chri stmas toys and canned goods for the needy, th ose with exem p tions will participate in a "freedom rid e" along the designated route. Those with out exe mp tions can ride with someone else (in a four- wheel drive vehi cle or on a motorcycle) or pa rticipa te on a non -motorized vehicle (b icy cle , hors e or on fo o t). Following the freedom ride, those wanting to travel the Mojave Road o r a ny other legal road or tra il can do So with no permit requ ired. The rall y sta rts a t 7:30 a.m. , and Al vo rd Roa d is off the Harvard Road exit of I-IS, approximately 20 miles east of Barstow. As they prepared for the November 1213 Baja 1000, the Honda team had one of those infamous experiences that only seem to ha p p en s o uth of th e bo rder. "While w e were p re-running, Da n ny (Ashcraf t) got the bike stuck up to the b ars in mud on Laguna Salada," said Charles Halcomb. "The bike started sinking in, but he thought he cou ld ma ke it through so he just kept going. We had to dig the bike ou t an d lay it on its side, and then, before it would sin k in aga in, we flip-flopped it over on to its other side. We must have flip-flopped it at least 80 times over to the edge of the lake bed, and we couldn't rest because it would start to sink in again if we d idn't hurry." Assisting in Kawasaki Team Green's p its Ma ee to race inAMA·S uerbike Series A us tralian Kevin Magee (right) is set to sign a co n tract with the Martin Adams-owned Sm okin' Joe's Racing team to contest the 1994 AMA Superbike National Championship Road Race Series, according to Ad ams. Mag ee will ride the tea m's Honda RC45 in the 10-race series w hich begins w ith th e Da ytona 200 a t Daytona International Speed way on March 13 and co n cl udes a t Se ars p o int In te rnati o n a l Racewa y on August 21. The 31-year-old is expec ted to make his debut w ith the team during the three-day Dunlop test ses sion at Dayt ona In tern ational Speedway on December 1-3. Magee w ill rid e last year's Honda RC30 at the tes t, which he will use mainly to get accustomed to the 3.56-mile race track. "I'rn thrilled, " Adams s a id on Monday, November 22. "It's so rt of a coup, getting him to com e here to race in America. Rob (Muzzy), my self and (Eraldo) Ferracci have all succeeded in bringin g world -class talent back to America. Hopefully, the people who run our series and the promoters can take advantage of it and make the series better." Magee brought attention to himself with his performances aboard Marlborobacked Yamaha s uperbikes in the early 80s in Australia, and he was sig ned by Kenny Roberts to rid e Lucky Strike Yamahas in the 500cc Grands Prix in 1988 after a successful three-race GP debut in 1987. He finished his first full season of 500cc GP racing fifth in the World Championship. The highlight of Magee's GP career carne on April 24, 1988 when he beat Eddie Lawson in a straigh t figh t to win the 500cc Spanish Grand Prix a t Jarama for what would be hi only GP victory. Still a member of the Roberts-owned Lucky Strike s Yamaha team in 1989, Magee suffered a broken leg in his post-race collison with Bubba Shobert in the U'S, GP at Laguna Seca, the third round of the series . In 1990, Magee joined the Lucky Strike SUzuki team, bu t he suffered serious head injuries at the Ll.S, GP at Laguna Seca on Ap ril 8.. Magee has since tasted success in Worl d Ch ampionsh ip Superbike racing, winning on e leg and finishing second in the other in the Australian round of the series at Phillip Island in 1992, an d also adding tw o second-p lace finish es in the Japanese round tha t same seaso n. In 1993, Magee ra ced a factory Yamaha YZR500 in the All-Jap an Road Race Series, but his season was cut short when he suffered a broken hand in a 'practice session crash for the Suzuka 8-Hour in July. at the Baja 1000 was non e other than former national MXer Goat Breker. "This is my first time d own here, and it's just awesome," said Brek er, who is no w a motocross promoter. "I'm just trying to do what I can for these guys without getting in thei r w a y . It's a lo t o f fu n ." Accompanying Breker was top woman motocrosser Cynthia Cole. Cole has lived in both Massachusetts and Florida, but has most recently been living and practicing in southern California. Cycle N ews associate editor Chris Jonnum w a s ob v io usly -never a boy scout, or he would hav e been better prepare d to cover the Baja 1000. Jonn u m waited until two days before the race to rese rve a hotel room near the start / finish in Mexicali, only to find th a t none were available, so he grabbed his sleeping b ag a n d h ead ed for Mexi co. Fortunately, Mort and C.M. M aynard, of El Centro ' s C/M Cycle; and Dirt Rider ma ga zine's Mark Kariya were ki nd enough to offe r their hotel room floors. Trials & Mo tocross News rep orts that Roger DeCoster has signed a con tract to m anage a 250c c MX GP team in 1994 and '95. Frenchman Yves DeMaria an d American Tallon Vohland will ride for DeCoster wit h backing from Pepsi, Elf, Honda, Apple and Casi o. It was previ ously rumored tha t DeMaria would ride for an Eric Geboers-sponsored team, but th e Pe psi d ea l w a s mo re lucrati ve. Testing w ill s ta rt in California in late Jan uary. Robbie Reynard reinjured his right . should er in a cr ash at the Pari s Supercross. Reynard had planned on co n tes ting the Florida Min i Olympics, but will now have to tum his attention to preparing for the '94 season. ... T"""! ;...; OJ ~ OJ U OJ a NAMED: Beau All en Pacheco, as editor-in-chief of Big Twin, Cycle World ma gazine ' s quarte rl y publi cation d e voted ex cl u sively to HarleyDa vidsons. Pache co, 46, mo st recently worked as editor-at -la rge for Rid er magazine . . HIRED: Robert Hough and Brenda Buttner, as news editor and feature ed itor, respectively, by Cycle World ma gazine . H ough prev io usly worke d as a reporter for the Gal veston (Texas) Daily News and as a co ntribu ting editor for American Roa d racing. Buttner worked as th e Washi ng ton corres p ond en t for the CNBC cab le television network and nati onal corre sp ondent for the Gannett News Service. CORRECTION: The telephon e number for the 1994 La Playa Mo tocross Gran d Prix Series was listed incorr ectly in our la s t iss ue . The number in Rosarito Beach, Mexico is 011-52-661-22525. CEASED: Publica ti on ofAXO Sport America's quarterly Ins id e Motocross M a gazin e , o ne yea r a fte r its d ebut. Acc ord ing to co mpany president Jim Hal e, the final issue has been published a nd se nt to s ubs cribers and reta ilers, and those with s ubs cri ptions w ill recei ve full refund s for all p r e paid iss ue s. "We had all ocated a gen erous portion of AXO's 1993 promotiona l budge t to prod uc e th is magazine and w e have now decided to modify our d irection, " said Hale. "We've d ecided to place 100 p ercent of our resources and efforts on further development of AXO's motocross products." CORRECTI ON: Th e correct phone number for Kamikaze Sport, the exclusiv e importers of the Day 180 MX Boots, is 602/352-0190, FAX 602/484-0244. ... ... 3

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